INSTITUTE NEWS
Agile working project in focus at IHEEM West Midlands event
Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust’s HQ building in Birmingham was the venue for the IHEEM West Midlands Branch meeting on 27 February. Hosted by IHEEM Branch Chair and Council Member, Claire Hennessy, alongside Stephen Hinckes and David Arthurs from the BCHT Estates & Facilities Team, the evening focused on the Trust’s ‘Agile Working Project’. The presentations outlined the Trust project to reconfigure the office spaces for the various teams based at the organisation’s Priestley Wharf premises in the wake of the impact of COVID-19 restrictions on the working environment. Presentations were led by the Trust
team, supported by Helen Whinray and Harpinder Kaur Sihra from architects, Design Buro, with delegates also participating in an interactive discussion to understand more about the background, engagement, and collaboration with all stakeholders to introduce and embed agile working as a permanent change. A facility tour showed how the project had improved
IHEEM supports third National EFM Day 2024
This will be the third year of celebrations showcasing and recognising the essential work done by all estates and facilities professions in the delivery of health and social care to people across all four nations of the UK. IHEEM is proud to once again be part of the Joint Associations Group representing the majority of estates and facilities services and professionals working within healthcare across the UK. In 2023, 563 individuals from healthcare organisations, contractors, and social care teams took part in the day, reaching 287,000 staff. IHEEM, alongside the other associations, would encourage everyone to get involved again this year, ensuring that the event continues to grow, and that Trusts and Health Boards are able to celebrate the wide variety of skills and knowledge of
10 Health Estate Journal April 2024
healthcare engineering and estates and facilities management personnel – all of whom work tirelessly to keep healthcare buildings operational, day in, day out, and support the provision of the very best patient care.
Join colleagues within your Trust, Health Board, and the wider healthcare EFM community around the UK, to celebrate National Healthcare Estates & Facilities Day 2024 on 19 June. To help plan activities for the day, a download kit is now available via the dedicated website. Please register at:
www.healthcareEFMDay.org
Chemical-free thermal effluent decontamination
AstellBio, a specialist in thermal effluent decontamination, has joined IHEEM as a Company Affiliate Member. The company says: “From
the working environment, making it a great place to work, that also benefited team members’ health and wellbeing. Following the event,
delegates enjoyed some local hospitality and refreshment, and the chance to socialise and network. On Tuesday 16 April 2024
at 5:30 pm the IHEEM West Midlands Branch AGM will take place at the Black Country & Marches Institute of Technology in Zooological Drive, Dudley. Look out on the IHEEM West Midlands LinkedIn page and email for updates and further details. If you are an IHEEM West Midlands Branch member, please ensure that your email address held by IHEEM is current, so we can keep you up to date with Branch events. To update your email and any other contact details, please email
office@iheem.org.uk
compact liquid waste autoclaves with integrated basins suitable for sterilising Containment level 3 biohazardous liquids in lab and clinical settings, to large-scale EDS plants able to sterilise thousands of litres of wastewater simultaneously, we offer a diverse range of solutions to meet varying space and wastewater throughput requirements.” AstellBio’s EDS technology employs thermal methods to eliminate bacteria and contaminants without the use of chemicals, ‘ensuring thorough decontamination in high- risk environments’. Operating at temperatures of 121°C and above, its systems reportedly effectively neutralise microbes, viruses, spores, and genetically modified material, ‘ensuring complete deactivation of biological contaminants’. The AstellBio Micro EDS, designed
for deployment beside the location of effluent generation, provides ‘a compact and automated solution for sterilising liquid waste without the need for manual handling’. The Micro’s hardware forms the key architecture for its sister products, such as the AstellBio Sink – where the effluent feed is replaced with a basin to allow effluent to be poured directly into the system. The company’s ‘eco-friendly’ chemical-free sterilisation relies solely on dry saturated steam, ‘minimising environmental impact, while ensuring personnel safety’. Equipped with advanced PLC-based touchscreen controllers, systems offer ‘intuitive operation and enhanced efficiency in system management’. Sales & Marketing Director, Paul
Birchmore said: “AstellBio is excited to become an Affiliate Members of IHEEM – to both share the knowledge and experience of the Institute’s members, and to bring our clean, green, and easily validated method of chemical- free liquid waste sterilisation to a wider audience of healthcare engineering professionals.”
Images used courtesy of Design Buro
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